Stuck
by Kittensbreath
Summary: Niles and C.C. are trapped in the pantry while the Sheffields are away. What will they do to pass the time? Hmmmm...


_Author's Note: Man, I am on a roll with these Niles/C.C. fics! My video files have stopped working, so I haven't been able to watch any episodes to look for some fill-in-the-blank scenes. I'm willing to take suggestions for futures stories, so just let me know via review or pm. Anyway, enjoy this original one-shot! The poem that's mentioned a few times in here is "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou - absolutely beautiful. Look it up!_

Stuck

"I cannot believe I'm stuck in here with you."

"Well, you'd better believe it, Babs…" the man sighs. "We're stuck in here until the Sheffields come back."

The blonde lets out a disenchanted grumble and slides down the wall onto the floor of the pantry. She pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her head in her hands.

"It's too early for this!" she mumbles between her painted fingernails and her veil of flaxen hair.

- - - - - Moments earlier - - - -

_It's so hot for an August day. _Niles regards to himself as he rolls up his sleeves and continues chopping the cantaloupe. The Sheffields are out having lunch with Fran's parents and won't be back until much later. It isn't yet noon, but Niles still hasn't eaten, so here he is – slicing fruit for a snack and wiping perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Hey, Hazel - time to buttle!"

Niles hears the scream all the way from the foyer as the Ice Queen stalks toward the kitchen. He shudders at the sound of her heels clicking their way closer to him. Soon enough, the door violently swings open and that blonde he so loves to hate thrusts her green mug into his chest.

"I need sugar, Butler Boy!" her eyes are fuming and he can tell she had a rough night.

"Don't we all, Babcock?" he smirks.

A befuddled look instantly clouds her face. She's about to ask him to explain himself when she's interrupted.

"Sugar's in the pantry. I'm busy." He tells her flatly, not bothering to skip a beat of his steady chopping.

C.C. watches him slice melon with the silvery knife for a small while. The blade slides fluidly through the fruit. She's mesmerized for those few scarce moments when she stares at his labored hands wielding such a sharp and impressive knife. She almost wants those hands to grip her in a similar way.

She shakes her head, grumbles, and then sets off in search of the sugar. When she reaches the pantry, she's astonished. Never has she ever seen so many jars, bottles, canisters, boxes and bags of food. _Whoa. _She gapes at the shelves and shelves of exotic spices. She finds herself quickly setting down her coffee cup and deftly unscrewing the lids of different seasonings to further examine them. She sniffs some hearty cinnamon and sprinkles a bit into her coffee. She finds a container of cumin and inhales that, smiling. She extracts something missing a label and detects a divine aroma from the container.

"I made that one."

Niles' deep voice resonates in her ear and she jumps, turning around to face him.

"Why would you scare me like that?" she grasps at her chest with her free hand and wills herself to breathe normally again.

"It's cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. Smells nice, hm?" he brushes past her for some flour.

"You- you made this?" she sniffs it again in awe, inhaling the heavenly scent.

"I did. It's fantastic for desserts." He states, looking around for something, not bothering to face her or look her in the eyes.

Suddenly, the pair hears a sharp slamming of a door, followed by the loud yipping of C.C.'s dog.

"What the-"

C.C. rushes toward the closed pantry door and twists the knob brutally. Deeming this unsuccessful, she brings her fist down hard on the wooden door and scaring her Pomeranian in the process.

"Oh, shut up, Chester!" she growls at him, prompting the dog to whimper and scurry away. "Niles, why won't this door open? What the hell is going on?"

"It seems Chester closed the door behind us; I assume trying to reach you for god knows what reason. The heat must've made the door jamb swell. It happens to the back door a lot."

"I'm going to kill that dog!" she barks.

"Down, girl. I'm sure he loves you just as much." He mutters and replaces the flour – not needing it after all.

"I cannot believe I'm stuck in here with you."

"Well, you'd better believe it, Babs…" the man sighs. "We're stuck in here until the Sheffields come back."

The blonde lets out a disenchanted grumble and slides down the wall onto the floor of the pantry. She pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her head in her hands.

"It's too early for this!" she mumbles between her painted fingernails and her veil of flaxen hair.

Niles reaches for her coffee mug and extends it in her direction. She lifts her head and takes it graciously. While she sips her coffee, she looks around at the pantry they're stuck in together. It's spacious enough for a pantry - quite surprising, really. She grimaces, remembering that she never located that damn sugar. Niles notices her scowl and begins browsing the shelves for saccharine. His eyes land on a sack of sugar on the fourth shelf. He takes it and tears the side open, handing the bag to C.C.

"Thanks…" she manages. She drinks her coffee in silence, watching Niles sink to the floor across from her.

"Well, we may as well do something to pass the time." He moves a hand to scratch the back of his head.

"I'm not doing anything with you, Toilet Duck." She grumbles and gulps down some more coffee.

Niles sighs and leans back against the wooden panels. He closes his eyes and thanks everything that is good that he didn't have the stove on when they got trapped in here. He opens his eyes to watch his enemy. She is glowering at her mug, but she looks stunning to him. Despite his best attempts, he can't deny himself of the love he has for C.C. He gazes at her, noticing the gray blouse she is wearing and how the top two pearly buttons are undone. A blue stone nestles itself in the hollow of her throat in the form of a dainty necklace. He can see a bead of sweat slowly drip down her neck and into her cleavage. He gulps and turns his head, unable to look at her any longer.

They spend the next twenty minutes or so in utter silence. C.C. stays seated on the ground beside a basket of apples and takes the liberty of munching on one. Niles has chosen to reorganize the shelves of the well-stocked pantry. He's already alphabetized the spices and now he was working on the bags of dried fruit. He stops to pop a few dried cranberries into his mouth and chews them hungrily.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

The blood-curdling scream emanating from behind him stops him dead in his tracks for a few seconds. After the initial shock wears off, he turns quickly to see C.C. lurching forward to scramble away from the corner she was sitting near.

"Spiiiiiiderrrr!" she squeals and moves to duck behind him.

She pushes him forward with her right hand, her left still clutching a honeycrisp apple. Niles bends over to locate the spider. He finally finds it – a fairly little guy that surely wouldn't cause them any harm. Still, he swiftly sets his shoe down upon it, squishing the poor creature with a heavy foot.

"There," he says "nothing to be frightened of."

C.C. doesn't say anything. She's mortified – by the spider that was previously crawling beside her, and by her terribly dramatic reaction to it. Her own voice is still ringing in her hears and she wonders for a brief moment if Nanny Fine ever feels that way. Niles moves forward to place a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay. Your reaction was perfectly normal." He smiles lightly at her.

She sighs and looks down at her shoes, her cheeks flushing a healthy shade of pink. Niles courageously places his hand under her chin, lifting her head so their eyes meet.

"I'm serious - there's no need to be embarrassed." He smiles at her more brightly this time.

When she doesn't answer him, he grasps both of her shoulders and shakes her back to life.

"Listen, woman. We're stuck in here for at least a few more hours. We're either going to talk or do _something_ to pass the time! There's no reason to be enemies when we're stuck in a predicament together."

Her eyes bore into his and she can feel even more heat rising to her cheeks. It was beginning to get quite stuffy in the pantry and they were both starting to sweat more. Niles had undone a couple of buttons on his shirt and she could see light curls sparsely coating his chest. Through the gap in his button-down, she could trace the muscles of his toned chest with her eyes. She looks down at his brawny arms that extend from the shirt sleeves he's rolled up carelessly. C.C. lifts her eyes to meet his beaming, blue ones.

"Sugar, Niles."

He stares at her uncertainly. She's finished her coffee, so she definitely doesn't mean sugar for that. However, it would be very presumptuous of him to assume anything else. He looks down at her. He takes in her milky skin and her icy, blue orbs. Her hair is curling slightly and he wants to run his hands through it. He finds his answer when C.C. lifts a palm to rest on his cheek.

Niles leans in to her and moves his hands from their resting place on her shoulders down her arms and to her hands. He twines his fingers into hers and brushes his lips lightly across her red ones. She smiles against him and grabs him by his shirt collar, pulling him closer to her. She deepens the kiss and she soon feels Niles' sturdy chest pressing against her.

Emboldened by her actions, Niles gently slides his tongue along her bottom lip, nibbling at it every so often. She moans into his hot mouth as their tongues meet. He can taste her. He smiles at the heavenly mix of coffee and cinnamon and apple. C.C. wraps her arms tenderly around his neck, drawing them even nearer to one another. Niles protectively weaves his arms around her waist and slowly pulls away to gaze into the woman's beautiful eyes.

Niles opens his mouth to speak, but C.C. stops him with a spindly finger pressed to his lips.

"Shh, don't talk, Butler Boy - just feel."

Their lips meet once again in a passionate fury. C.C.'s hands reach up to fumble with the buttons of his shirt while Niles dips his head to plant fiery kisses on her throat. Despite the invigorating assault Niles has begun on her neck, she manages to free the last button and push the shirt onto the floor. Her hands run gingerly along his strapping chest, discovering every inch of exposed skin and reveling in the muscles they find there.

Niles raises his hands to firmly cup her face. She's shocked to see the hunger in his darkened eyes. It gives her a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. It's a strange feeling - yes, but certainly not bad. She can't remember a time when a man has ever looked at her with such passion. He roughly pushes her back against a wall of the pantry and presses his body against hers, his bare chest sighing against the soft material of her blouse. He knows, without a doubt, that her skin must be even silkier. She brazenly moves her fingers lower to toy with his belt, when he stops her. He grabs her wrists soundly and looks at her confused and almost ashamed expression.

"You're over-dressed, my witch." He growls.

Niles pins her hands above her head and begins kissing his way down the side of her face. He nips and licks at her jaw and neck. He places steamy kisses on her collarbone and shoulder, causing her to whimper against him. He smirks at her and slowly unfastens a shining button on her blouse. She moans at the excruciating pace in which he is teasing her. With each button that he unleashes, he plants a kiss or a lick on the newly exposed flesh. Eventually, he is tracing the contours of her breasts with his tongue, drawing feverish groans from her lips.

Her hands fumble around and eventually come to grasp the shelf above her head as Niles lets a hand wander up towards her right breast, pinching a nipple shamelessly. Her skin is covered in a sheen layer of perspiration and her knuckles are turning a ghostly white from clutching the wooden shelf. He grins at her and rolls the stiff nipple between his fingers, taking the time to nibble at her ear and tug on the lobe with his teeth.

"Oh, Niles." She moans under his touch.

"That's it, wench. Beg."

C.C. opens her eyes to shoot him daggers.

"I will do no such thing." She tells him pompously.

Niles merely shrugs and moves down to blow a cool burst of air onto one of her peaks. His hands graze the sides of her breasts before moving downward to caress her stomach and hips. His fingers run along the waistband of her pencil skirt multiple times, bringing C.C. to a point of frustration. Her hands land on his belt once again as she hurriedly tries to unlatch it. He forces her hands back up above her head and crudely grinds his hips into hers.

"Ohhh, shit." She groans.

His grip on her wrists tightens and their blue eyes meet with lust clearly evident in both pairs.

"Beg." He hisses at her.

She says nothing, but turns her head away from him haughtily. His teeth land on her exposed neck and he bites her harshly, much like a lion devouring its prey. She yelps in surprise, but secretly revels in the baffling combination of pain and pleasure he is wreaking on her skin.

"Please, Niles. I need you." She admits to him and he immediately releases his hold of her wrists, allowing her to run her fingers through his ruffled hair.

She breathes a sigh of relief as Niles kneels before her to unzip her skirt, letting it fall from her hips onto the pantry floor. He plants wet kisses along her porcelain hips and the tops of her thighs. He lifts one of her legs to rest on his shoulder, bringing him closer to her center. His fingers browse her silky limb and he briefly thinks of a poem he loves, finding it strangely relative to the woman writhing from his touch. _Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise that I dance like I've got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs? _He smirks and lets his tongue dart out to soothingly glide against the lace of her red panties. He halts to look up at the object of his desire. Her brow is furrowed and her eyes are clenched shut. A few strands of her blonde hair are sticking sexily to her forehead and her hands are buried in his mane, tugging at him to continue his ministrations. He retreats between her legs and laps at her teasingly, until C.C. is squirming and nearly screaming in pleasure.

"Please, it's too much." She exhales deeply and takes his hand to pull him up toward her. "I need _you_."

Niles yanks at her panties and lets them join her skirt on the floor. Soon enough, the rest of his garments are piled on top of hers beneath their feet. C.C.'s hands come to rest on his biceps and his tangle into her luscious hair. They kiss, passionately and with abandon. Their tongues dance and they taste each other once again. Niles pulls away to stare into her bright blue eyes as he lifts one of her legs to enter her. C.C. groans in pleasure and tilts her head back; basking in the painfully slow rhythm he's begun.

"C.C., you are absolutely beautiful and I regret ever saying otherwise. "

He's smiling at her with such effervescence that she feels faint. She's about to respond when he clasps a firm hand over her mouth.

"Shh, my love. No talking, just feel."

He replaces his hand with his mouth and he kisses her deeply, drawing soft mews from her sweet lips. He smirks against her and gradually rolls his hips into her a bit faster. He moves his head downward to catch an earlobe between his lips and sucks on it, eliciting drawn-out groans from his blonde beauty. Her hands move to his shoulders to dig her red nails into his skin. He grunts at the pain which prompts him to thrust into her more forcefully; the very air around them mingles with the frantic sounds of love-making.

Niles grasps C.C. by her thighs and lifts her up. Her legs come to wrap around his waist and her back is pressed up against the wooden panels of the pantry wall, etching imprints into her skin. They are both desperate now, animalistic. C.C.'s legs tighten around Niles' lower body as he pounds into her, making her whole body ache from the sensation. His mouth latches onto a taut nipple and bites down, causing C.C. to hiss. The sensuous feeling of Niles' tongue on her breast, his hands gripping her hips, and him pounding her into the wall is driving her insane. Her cheeks are flushed and she watches a few beads of sweat collect on Niles' forehead. His lips move upward to gently kiss her neck and shoulder. He heaves raspy breaths onto her skin, making her break out into goosebumps wherever his stubbly chin grazed. The soft moaning in her ear brings her over the edge as she orgasms hard. Her toes curl and she begins to shudder beneath him. Her nails sink deeply into his flesh, drawing pinpricks of blood from the crescent-moon punctures. When he feels her body clenching around him, he lets go. His head falls back as they ride out their waves of ecstasy together.

Niles kisses her lightly on her forehead and a few times on her temple, then carefully lets them slink down onto the floor. They rest there, with their backs against the wall underneath the last shelf and beside a handle of apple cider. His arm is wrapped tenderly around her shoulders and her hand rests lovingly on his chest, as if they are both claiming each other as strictly "theirs."

C.C. shifts in his embrace to slide into her panties and button a few of her blouse buttons into place. She stands and saunters over to the pantry door. Niles' face falls when the door swings open easily and Chester comes scurrying up to his owner's slender legs, yapping excitedly. C.C. looks over at Niles who is sitting stark naked on the floor with a downtrodden look on his face. She notices the wrinkles in his face and wonders if they've suddenly deepened because of her actions. The luster in his baby blues is gone. They're desolate and he seems most dejected. She smiles at him.

"Niles," she emits a deep laugh, making him quiver in his gloomy state. "I was just thinking that we could move this to the bedroom."

He smirks up at her and ponders that poem again. _Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'cause I laugh like I've got gold mines diggin' in my own back yard? _

Niles rises to his feet, collecting the multitude of fabrics and accessories on the floor, and reaches his hand out to his blonde witch. The youthful spark has promptly returned to his eyes and his boyish grin penetrates C.C.'s warming heart. He says nothing to her, but simply places a devoted kiss on the back of her hand and leads her upstairs.


End file.
